Q&A: What Makes You Feel Loved?

As an ode to Valentine's Day this week, The Street interviewed four random students on campus to get a glimpse of what makes Princeton students feel loved. We received a variety of responses, which range from family and friends to a cup of Campbell’s tomato soup.

The Daily Princetonian: What makes you feel loved?

Morgan Thompson ‘20: I recently did a love language test; my love language was words of affirmation. But also spending quality time and just seeing people, which I think is really important.

David Gilhooley ‘17: Knowing that I have so many great friends on campus and that they are willing to do things for me. Simply knowing that is really nice.

Joshua Burd ‘17: I’m guessing that a lot of people are going talk to you about their love languages. And I think that how I show love is very different from how I like to be shown love. I rely on other people for affirmation a lot. I think it’s important for me, on a daily basis, to have my friends check in on me, ask if I’m ok, or just to know when I’m not, and bring me food or a cup of hot chocolate. It makes me feel so much better knowing that someone cares about me like that. Once when I was sick, someone from my a cappella group brought me a cup of Campbell’s tomato soup that he warmed up in the microwave. I didn’t really need the sustenance, but I definitely needed the love.

DP: Can you call any specific moments you felt particularly loved?

Morgan Thompson ‘20: Right before I came back from Intersession, my mom and dad came into my room and we all laid down on my bed together. My mom was on my left side and my dad was on my right side, and it really made me feel so safe and loved.

David Gilhooley ‘17: My friends planned a big surprise party for me on my birthday; they got a cake and signed a card for me. I still have the card hanging up on my wall, and it’s filled with memories from what we had done together throughout the year. I love to go back to that card and read what people wrote, and that makes me feel loved.

Ciara Corbeil ‘17: When I came back from studying abroad. I spent six months in Cape Town, South Africa. My term abroad was spring semester, and then we had summer break, so it was quite a while that I was away from Princeton and all my friends here. When I came back in the fall, my two closest friends were waiting for me at the Dinky station. It was a pretty awesome feeling to know that even though I had been gone for a really long time, I was missed. I felt really welcomed home.

DP: How do you show love to others?

Joshua Burd ‘17: I really like spending time and sharing experiences with people. I like to compliment people and create memories together. I like to organize other people to do things, to go somewhere or to hangout. Inclusivity is important to me, too. I often try to look for people who I think don’t have a community and try to be a friend to them.

DP: Has your view of love changed since coming to Princeton?

Joshua Burd ‘17: I think real love comes down to face time, which is something that I came to realize when thinking about my family from whom I live eight hours away now. Calling my parents to talk to them is a very simple way of showing them love. I have learned that just being present in their lives to share their little joys and hardships on a daily basis can be enough to show them that I love them.

DP: Do you think you express and receive love in different ways?

Ciara Corbeil ‘17I like to show love by doing nice things for other people, and being a listener and a shoulder to cry on. But I have noticed a discrepancy in how I share and receive love, because it really means a lot to me when people express how much they care about me in words, as well as just being there for me.